SUPPER-CLUB BLUES

Though Lou Rawls still talks in his act about growing up on the south side of Chicago, he has long since gone uptown--to the world of plush supper clubs and conservative musical tastes. Rawls’ concert Saturday at the Long Beach Terrace Theater would have been more distinctive and satisfying if he were truer to his jazz, blues and R&B; roots. Except for a couple of blues numbers early in the set, the show could have been performed by any number of supper-club veterans.

Rawls is a gifted singer, with a deep, rich voice that can alternately growl and purr. His skills were best reflected in a spare, understated version of “Send In the Clowns,” embellished with some soulful improvising. But his voice was wasted on fluff like “Tomorrow,” and the gripping “Wind Beneath My Wings” was undercut by a plastic pop-disco arrangement. The crass commercialism was most evident when Rawls performed--without any humor or irony--two jingles for the beer company he serves as a spokesman.